Army - Operations
On 25-27 February 2008 Cameroon experienced its worst period of violence since the early 1990s. Violent protests and looting left major property damage and 16-17 dead (according to government estimates; nonofficial estimates were much higher). The causes were a mix of political and economic factors, including rising fuel and other commodity prices, the killing of two youths in a political demonstration, the government closure of a popular TV station, the President's plans to change the constitution, and internal power struggles.
By February 2008 the army was deployed in five of the ten provinces of Cameroon that were experiencing violence (Littoral, West, Southwest, Northwest, and Center). This was the first time that the army had been deployed to quell civil disturbances since the turbulent 1990s. The army is a third category force of maintaining law and order, meaning that only the President can call them into action. Observers note that the current situation had escalated much faster than in the 1990s. Douala -- Cameroon's business capital, largest city, and hotbed of the opposition -- remains calm following riots in February 2008 and a constitutional amendment in April 2008. Government authorities anticipated protests in the city, and deployed army troops on the streets. The B.I.R. remained on patrol in various neighborhoods as a deterrent. In some areas during the February riots, gendarmes were reportedly disarmed and whipped. The continued presence of army troops in Douala and Yaound had reportedly put significant stress on the security services. As of early May 2008, B.I.R. troops have been quartered to barracks.
The army, Presidential Guard, and elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) were very heavily deployed on the streets, including about 500 regular military and 400 BIR forces in Yaounde and another 400 BIR in Douala. They were unlikely to be capable of maintaining this kind of posture indefinitely. However, they appeared loyal to the President, who had carefully nurtured and maintained the ethnic balance of the armed forces. Elements of the military were unhappy about the lack of upward mobility (with so many elderly generals) and there is strong dislike for Minister of Defense Ze Meka, who some saw as helping support the unrest. However, while things may change, there was no sign of an imminent coup.
The military climax of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Cameroon Armed Forces took place at the Bafut-Bamenda airport on Thursday the 9th of December 2010 in the presence of His Excellency Paul Biya accompanied by his wife, Chantal, following the laying of the wreath on the War Memorial at Up-Station, Bamenda. Presented by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General René Claude meka, the Cameroon Armed Forces showcased its military might through a simulation exercise of the how the army internvenes, in that particular case, a aircraft hijacked by a notorious international terrorist network known as ZOULA, in which the security forces of VIOLET COUNTRY are victorious, subsequently forcing the terrorists to flee to BLUE COUNTYRY. The exercise, among others pointedly showed the inter-operability of Special forces, the operational capacity of both the Air Force crews and of Paratroopers, and the organization of space within the framework of a crisis management. Part of the simulation dubbed "Golden Lion Exercise" was helicopter hoisting and rappel dropping; the passing of Alpha jets; rope dropping from helicopters and the dropping of parachutists.
According to NGOs security and defense forces used a variety of methods to extract information, especially from Boko Haram suspects. For example, members of the security and defense forces beat those arrested during the December 2014 sweep operation in Magdeme and Double, including hitting them with truncheons. Security and defense forces loaded detainees into trucks and initially took them to the military camp in Mora and thereafter to the Gendarmerie Headquarters in Maroua, where they were locked in makeshift cells. The following day it was discovered that many of the detainees had died, probably by suffocation. In a press release on January 15, the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) estimated the death toll at 50 and stated the dead were buried in a mass grave.
The regional four-nation force counted nearly 10,000 men. Their efforts chased Boko Haram out of many towns of villages, but continued use of landmines and suicide bombings by insurgents have kept casualties high. Cameroon pledged 15 August 2015 to provide 2,450 troops to join the multinational force to combat Boko Haram. The country also named General Nka Valere as deputy to the commander of the force. Military spokesperson Colonel Didier Badjeck, who issued a statement from Cameroon's president, Paul Biya , said the decision to send 2,450 troops follows a commitment Cameroon made 11 July 2015 at a summit of heads of state and defense ministers that took place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The commander of the Fourth Combined Military Region and head of the Emergence 4 Operation, Brigadier General Jacob Kodji launched an offensive backed by the multinational joint task force to clean up the localities of Djibrili and Zamga in Cameroon and Nigeria respectively on March 16th 2016. By April 2016 the military hospital in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, was overwhelmed with wounded Cameroon and Chadian troops of the regional force currently working to rout Boko Haram from its strongholds in Nigeria and border areas. The hospital had a capacity of 200 beds, but about two times the number were seeking medical attention there. Since the massive raids in Ngoshi and Kumshe sporadic attacks have become almost inexistent. The number of suicide attacks have significantly reduced the last were reported in Tolkomeri, Houmaka and Achigachia where the suicide bombers killed themselves with claiming lives of ay victims.
The 2015 contingent of Cameroon soldiers who were on a peace keeping expedition to the troubled Central African Republic came to the end of their one year mission to the neighbouring country. The soldiers were received upon their arrival in the nation’s capital during a ceremony at the Ministry Head Quarters Brigade 20 September 2016. The military event was presided over by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo. Prior the reception; each of the soldiers handed over their weapons as an indication that their contracts have ended. More than 1000 troops of the infantry, navy and air force were involved. They had returned to the country two weeks after they were replaced by another Cameroonian delegation with equal number of soldiers that left Cameroon on September 9th, 2016. Minister Joseph Beti Assomo congratulated the Cameroonian soldiers for their sense of discipline and bravery during the mission. He said that they are benefit from the recently announced increments in monthly bonus for soldiers involved in United Nations Multinational Integrated Stabilization mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA. The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence noted emphatically, that soldiers found guilty of short comings will be sanctioned.
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